Police rock 55,000 in L.A.

[neonhunter]

It's appropriate that tonight's concert took place in a baseball stadium. What I saw tonight was like the Mickey Mantle-era New York Yankees suddenly re-emerging---and winning the World Series! It was such a special night, it would be tough to describe without sounding corny. I have always admired these guys, but tonight they took my fanship to a new level. Sting, Stewart and Andy played their asses off. I loved the treatments they gave to various tunes--key changes, medleys, new grooves. "Wrapped Around Your Finger" was especially fantastic, a definitive showcase for the individual and collective talent of the Police. The crowd was having it: 55,000 people singing "Roxanne" in full voice is quite something. Speaking of full voice, I have to give some special praise to Sting. I've seen him with and without The Police many times over the years, and TONIGHT WAS THE BEST I'VE EVER HEARD HIM SING. During quiet passages, his voice would echo through the stadium bowl, taking me right back to the early '80s and my youth. He's brilliant--dinosaurs, Greek mythology, world hunger, all discussed in his tunes, along with lots of love and yearning. Stewart's face at the end of the 3rd encore said it best. He was BEAMING. God Bless 'em. Tonight was much more than a great concert. It really filled my inspiration tank. Great show moment: The sunset sky filled with orange clouds, the L.A. breeze warm and mellow, and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters screaming "Times like these, you learn to love again....." Thank you Stewart, Sting, and Andy. What an offering! I'll never forget it......Matt

[Pezish]

What a time you had! I have already shed my doubts about this tour. I'm very exited about the Chicago shows.

[neonhunter]

Hey buddy, this is a sure thing for you. What these guys have accomplished with this comeback is mind-boggling. A long-time fan in the beer line said this is the best they've ever been! I couldn't argue with him. Have a great time at the show!!......Matt

[Laz]

It's almost 2 in the morning here in L.A., so I'll just copy and paste my review I posted on the thepolice.com boards:


>>>Just got back. Brief (OK, maybe not so brief) synopsis:

The Police on stage tonight: stunning as expected.

Sting: Feeding off energy of crowd (see below). Atoned for his "sins", if you will, vocally from Staples. Hit every high note and some higher than I ever heard on this tour. His voice was simply flawless. His bass playing was wonderful.

Stewart: Flawless (duh! as if he was going to be anything but flawless!!).

Andy:

Good news: Played his but off! Great solos! Really tight, especially toward the beginning.

Not so good news: Major, MAJOR guitar tech issues tonight. Unfortunately he did manage to spend probably most of his time onstage tonight looking off to the side of the stage and yelling at someone. There were parts where his Eventide Eclipse "sparkly, showery" guitar "synth" tones weren't quite kicking in right, there were parts where his guitar was not heard right, there were parts where his distorted lead tone was suddenly kicking in and out, not too bad, though. This could very well have affected his overall performance tonight. Just letting you know in advance before some music critic takes the boys to the cleaners over tonight's show. All this did happen mostly in the middle of the set. (He was having major tech issues in the beginning of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic... at one point in the intro he was switching between two different red Strats and Sting jokingly looked off to the side and said "Andy, you Ok over there? Ok, guess I'll just start it off myself... " then Sting just started singing the 1st verse w/bass and drums while Andy's guitar came in a couple measures later. I would certainly have waited for Andy instead of starting the song off without him, but oh well...) Again, mostly in the middle of the set... the first five or six songs were flawless and certainly flawless from near the end of Walking In Your Footsteps through Can't Stand Losing You, Roxanne and through both encores from what I could tell. It really looks to me like Dennis Smith and the rest of Andy's guitar crew are gonna have quite a bit of explaining to do after tonight's show!!

The setlist: From what I remember, identical to Staples and Anaheim. I could be wrong, but I didn't hear any surprises. So far they refuse to budge. Let's see what the future holds in this regard...

Now some really sweet news:

The crowd: Easily the most energetic crowd of all the Police shows I've attended so far, maybe, just maybe, the most enthusiastic crowd of any concert I've ever been to. I don't know if it was the size or if it was a stadium gig or the cool L.A. evening breeze or what, but for the first time in my experience, the place truly appeared to be packed with 55,000 true Police fanatics. Very, VERY little in the way of "Honey, I don't know all this other stuff they're playing, we'll get to have our moment when they sing that every breath that you take song so we can get out of here!" tonight. I can now honestly say, you my friends have not lived until you have heard 55,000 people singing the Eeyoyoyo stuff back at Sting perfectly in unison during Walking On The Moon (as well as...heck, almost every lyric to every song they played tonight!). In my area (F20 row 6), more than one person was freaking out just before Stewart's gong at the beginning, going on and on about "I've been waiting for this moment since I was 10" etc... ALMOST NOBODY SAT DURING THE ENTIRE POLICE SET. You could tell this was really a very special night for many, many people at Dodger Stadium tonight.

The (outdoor) stage: Actually kinda does "rival the pyramids" when you get inside. And those outdoor giant screens... WOW!! Hi-def I guess...

Details 'n' stuff off the top of my head: Sting does the old, stale "We haven't played together in almost 25 years so let me introduce the band, Andy this is Stewart, Stewart this is Andy" deal, when suddenly Stewart talks into his headset mic, something to the effect of: "Hey Sting, look, probably some 20,000 of the 55,000 people here have already heard this one a bunch of times, so..." Sting pointing at the moon in the sky during Walking On The Moon... no calypso beat in Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic whatsoever (yay!)... Andy having guitar tech problems at the beginning of De Do Do Do, and ends up playing the main intro/chorus guitar riff in the original octave instead of an octave higher, if only before the 1st verse (YAY!!)... my friend who went with me tells me that Sting knocked over his mic stand, crazy rock star style, at the end of Roxanne...

Needless to say I had a wonderful time... this past 30-day period is something I'll cherish until the day I die, easily. Can't wait until they announce another southern California date for the November/December 2nd US leg!! (Oh, wait, I'm broke... on second thought, yes I can!!)

Peace out!!

Laz

ps. uh.... uhhhhh........ uh.. Oh yeah... the, uh, Foos were cool tonight, too.

[Laz]

Oh, and I got to Dodger Stadium early, around 2:30-3:00pm-ish after some sushi and nabeyaki udon in Little Tokyo. Got to hear the Police soundcheck (from outside the parking lot gates, but still). Don't Stand So Close To Me, stopping and starting... Synchronicity II with Sting and Dave Grohl switching lead vocals... Driven To Tears, again sounded like Dave Grohl was living out some wet dream of singing with the Police. Quite cool.

Laz

ps. in a sea of 55,000 people, I unfortunately was unable to spot any sign of a Copelandia flag, not for lack of trying, though.

[Dietmar]

the best bit:

Sting changed his clothes !

Stewart's drums went back a few inches on the stage each evening, but even the biggest stage's size is limited. When he couldn't avoid the smell anymore it was time for a change...

[matthewstr]

Fiction Plane was better than I was expecting. The Foo Fighters absolutely tore it up, with Dave Grohl pulling an Angus Young and running through the crowd to the middle of the stadium. One thing I have noticed about Sting is that he is fiercely competitive and will escalate his performance and energy based on that of other performers. In every Sting or Police video I have, if Stewart or one of the other musicians plays something great, Sting will immediately "go for it" vocally or on his bass. He can't seem to help it. Knowing this, sometime in the middle of the Foo Fighters blazing set I suddenly realized that we would be assured an incredible performance by Sting. As expected, Sting was very engaged with the audience and his vocals were by far the best I've heard from him. ELTSDIM was played without the calypso beat and sounded amazing. Even Don't Stand sounded slightly more rocking than what I have seen and heard from other shows, due entirely to Stewart. The crowd helped kick Sting along by singing along at the appropriate pace. The show was great all around. They could have turned off the backing vocals, the crowd had that covered. My only critical comment is that they are still trying to play it pretty safe and be -perfect- at the cost of the interplay and loose feel of their old live sets. Stewart is the one most impacted by this decision as he is a whirlwind of "feel" and "groove" and seems to really thrive on the edge of chaos. He sounds great now but is capable of even more if they cut loose. By the time they get to Europe this will have worked itself out. Even with that going on, this was the concert I had been waiting for and they really delivered.

[jeffdaweasel]

That is SO awesome!!!!

I'm really glad to hear these reports. On one hand, I feel like I should have been there last night. But still, having a) seen a great show in Seattle, and b) knowing all my friends who went last night will be finally understanding why I've been so over-the-top about this tour, makes it all very worthwhile.

[FOYC]

The show was NAILS!!!! It was my 6th (and last??) of the tour and it was BY FAR the best. The previous shows were all solid, but featured ups and downs. Last night, I was a bit nervous for the boys going in. Staples wasn't great, and I feared that they were perhaps having doubts about the whole thing. And Dodger Stadium is a damn big place to lay an egg. I worried that 55,000 people would end up disappointed. But as Sting once said, they "burned from the first chord". The show was incredibly tight, the energy was off the charts. The guys did way more riffing/improvising than in any of the previous shows I've seen. Stewart really went nuts, and I think he'd even say he pushed himself to his own limits last night. He was pulling off fills in places that I've never heard him go before. For a drummer, going off the page can be risky because if you miss a beat the whole thing falls apart. A drummer needs total confidence in himself and in the band to go off. Last night, STEWART WENT OFF!!!! Yes Andy had some technical difficulties, but they were totally secondary to the sense that the band has found its groove on this tour. Even the songs that previously felt like low points on the tour ("Footsteps", "Wrapped", "Don't Stand") all were tight and upbeat enough to keep the crowd going nuts. And yes, Sting did chuck the mike stand! I really felt like Sting was totally into it last night, completely satisfied by the band, the crowd and the entire set. He seemed especially pumped up and inspired.

One minor dissapointment: the tech guy was tuning up the old Tele as we got to our seats. I thought for sure Andy would bring it out, but no. It was all Strat.

After Staples, I was concerned that the boys were perhaps not going to reach new heights this tour. Not so. The show last night was THE BEST POLICE SHOW I'VE EVER SEEN, including Ghost, Syncronicity, Us Festival, etc. "We are the Police and we are BACK".

[DirtyMartini]

WHOO-HOO! Thanks for the great reports, everyone!

And CONGRATS, STEWART, on what sounds like an amazing show!


[quote="Laz"]when suddenly Stewart talks into his headset mic, something to the effect of: "Hey Sting, look, probably some 20,000 of the 55,000 people here have already heard this one a bunch of times, so..." [/quote]

Hallelujia.

[GinaSuperCat]

YESSSS, I love hearing about how Stewart is tearing it up....WOOOooOooOohhOooo!

Hahaha, I should have already "fried up," as Dive says, an I <3 SC t-shirt!!! I have several more ideas saved in customink but one of my new favorite ideas is "Free Stewart!" <chuckle> Glad to hear he's freeing himself a lil <grin>

[Wait and See]

I had a feeling playing with the FF would give them a boost. Their songs don't do much for me, but they are a top-tier modern rock band that knows how it's supposed to be done.

[ejwhitehorse]

Just for clarification - the Dodger Stadium sound check was a Karaoke sound check where people in the audience are invited up on stage to sing along with the boys. The guy you heard, who you thought was Dave Grohl, was a Best Buy employee. Best Buy had a group there early since they are sponsors. Sting couldn't have picked a harder song to karaoke - Synchronicity II. I have to say the guy was really great and Sting loved it!

[samburusunset]

This is soooooo exciting to hear! The Boys have their groove on!!! Yaaaaaayyyyy!!! Glad all those lucky folks at Dodgers Stadium got such a great show. I'm really glad I got to Vancouver to see the first show, but all these glowing reviews are making me REALLY anxious for the Cleveland show. I'm sure it was incredible with everyone 'eyohing' together.

And, it proves that Stewart's post was what it was intended to be, commentary on a particular show he felt sucked. Not a foretelling of a 'doomed tour.' Not that *I* took it that way. It would be nice if those so-called 'journalists' would spend even half as much time heralding and giving props to excellent shows, such as this, as they do misconstrueing and parsing an internet forum entry.

[Laz]

[quote="Wait and See"]I had a feeling playing with the FF would give them a boost. Their songs don't do much for me, but they are a top-tier modern rock band that knows how it's supposed to be done.[/quote]

I did sorta sense that last night. I've always heard that Sting's a rather competitive fellow, so having Grohl tear it up the way he did, going through the crowd, climbing on rafters and stuff for the folks in the back and all... maybe in a way Sting felt somewhat... not threatened, but maybe challenged, in a gamesmanship, sportsmanship sorta way, and felt he really had to rise to the occasion last night. Boy did he/they ever!!

Laz